Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny…
CS Lewis
Extraordinary Destiny
good comes from heavy
Lately I’ve been dealing with a lot of not-so-fun tasks in life. As a result, life currently feels kind of heavy. Things are really busy around here with J in school 3 nights a week, going to my Dad’s a lot and helping with my Gram, keeping up with all my ‘regular’ tasks, and trying to finish some long abandoned projects.
Yards are a lot more fun to work in when it isn’t 100+ degrees out. Running is a lot more fun when the humidity isn’t up in the 80-90s. Scraping crap off your oven with a razor blade is more fun when… Wait, that one may not actually ever be fun! But you see, in all this stuff I am finding myself more and more grateful. Grateful for a husband who selflessly gives of his free time to help do housework or hangout even though his natural introversion would rather have some quiet, solo time. Grateful that I get to love on both my Grandmas regularly. Grateful that my legs can do running after several surgeries. Grateful I have a house to keep, a closet full of clothes to wash… and technology to help me do it! 😉
Life may not be as laid back as I want (or do we call that lazy?), but from where I sit I’m learning the GOOD that comes out of the HARD is so rewarding. I’m not so sure I would actually change a thing if I really could. It is EASY to say I would. Especially when I’m sitting at home alone, sweating buckets on a run, or tired as can be. If I just skipped the hard, the load life hands sometimes, I might just miss some of the lessons, the strength, and I might just miss out on being thankful.
PS Check out the chandelier I made for the kitchen:
JK Henry’s kitchen chandelier
Do-Over
A couple of months ago one of my fav blogger/writers (@JonAcuff) tweeted asking for adventurers. The natural skeptic came out immediately — money? no. membership? no. All you were asked to do was fill out a basic info form online. My attention perked. Adventure. Secrecy. Who doesn’t love a little mystery every now and then?
… and then I came up with a whole slew of reasons why to not fill out the form. What is this adventure? What kind of commitment? Who else will do it? What if I am a failure? What if I’m not what they’re looking for? I’m probably inadequate and unqualified? What if I don’t get picked? All of these are totally realistic questions to ask yourself when you don’t even know what the adventure entails, right? Seriously, y’all! I am annoyed at myself right now for how instantly my brain embraces timidity.
I bet several of you would’ve done the same.exact.thing. Why? Because of fear. It is part of human nature and, on some level, fear is healthy and protects us. I don’t feel many of my peers have a problem embracing healthy fear. We go far beyond healthy fear and fling ourselves into oblivion and allow this useful tool to morph into an overbearing, unrealistic dictator in our lives.
Thankfully for me, Jon decided to throw out another invitation. I got a do-over. This time, I had slightly wised up. I filled out the form. Small victory. I got an email invite. Another victory. I’m on an adventure. It’s challenging and fun! I’ve embraced — and more importantly been embraced by — a community of fellow Fear Punchers. People who will help me #Start. I will finish the undone and ignored. I will find a way to generate income with my natural talents/abilities. These are my risks and my fellow adventurers are my newest fans.
PS I’m also calling a blog do-over. I’m going to write about the things I love and care about, whenever I find the time to do so. For now, I’ll toss out glimpses into our life and tidbits you can hopefully benefit from. 🙂 No more apologies for absences or lack of content! Welcome to my re-opened corner of the web!
Sometimes it just stings.
*I’ve been debating whether or not to post this all week. I decided to go ahead with hope that this will help someone… and trust that my friends/family/readers realize this is not a pity party.
Sometimes it just stings.
Yesterday (Mother’s Day) was a hard day for me. And not because I can’t/don’t have babies (although my heart breaks for my friends who are going through this) or because I don’t know wonderful mothers or because I had some horrible relationship with my mom. In fact, I had a wonderful Mr.Mom who learned to french braid hair, play with Barbies, and actively learned about ‘girl’ life just so I could have as normal upbringing as possible. I have 2 phenomenal grandmothers who helped take care of me and walked along side my Daddy to help raise me. I have an Aunt who will go out of her way to make me feel special and catered to. There were mother’s of friends, “aunts”, and a nanny who all treated me like family, even though no blood is shared. I’ve also got the best mother-in-law a girl could hope for. I am thankful for each of them and the impact they’ve had on my life.
BUT…
it is an ugly but…
and it is a but that I will battle the rest of my life…
I love this photo. I love that expression.
I feel the sting. The sting only death can leave on a person. It’s one of those things. A flood of emotion that slugs you in the gut and is just plain hard. Mother’s Day does not make me unhappy. I don’t write this out of bitterness or anger, or to take away from other’s wonderful days. I’m just sore. Stung, sore, and raw. Like a fresh wound. I’ve found that grief ebbs and flows, and this is a time when it flows. Jealousy creeps. There is the hole in my life, a hole that is reserved for MY mother. For OUR relationship. The longing for a relationship strong and secure, similar to the one I have with my Dad, but different because it would be with my mother. I replay stories and photographs in my mind. Stories other people have told me, because I really don’t remember. Pictures I have seen and committed to memory. A tear or two fall. Then I look in the mirror. Something about looking in the mirror makes me feel comfort, closer to her. I look like her, and that is something we share. She was physically beautiful, and I’m glad I got a little bit of that beauty! She also had a beautiful character and is fondly remembered. I’m thankful every time someone tells me I remind them of her. Whether I do something just like her or say something just like her or my mannerisms are just like her. I’m thankful for these notable similarities because it is another dot that connects me to her. Another thing to help give shape to the void. I trust that she would be proud, because they tell me she would be. They know because they remember. While I miss her terribly and wish I could bring her a humongous bouquet of peonies and a Val’s pizza for dinner, instead I must cling to the promises of the cross. The promise that Christ has indeed defeated sin. That she isn’t experiencing any sadness or pain or consequence of sin — rather she is dancing with joy. She is home. That one day I will go home, too. We will be together and worship Him. And that will be a fabulous day friends. A day I anticipate.
This week also marks the week my parents would have celebrated their anniversary. I’m so thankful she had such fantastic taste. She knew he would be terrific father… even if he doubted. She did well!
Some comfort from Hebrews 12:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Tomahawk Chop
Happy Monday, everyone!
I just stole these from my sister in law, Ness’ blog. Figure I better post before I forget! On Friday night we were invited to our first Braves game of the season with Sean, Ness, and all 3 girls! We were lucky enough to be treated to the Bobby Cox Suite… if only 6 would have been there himself! His stand-in was pretty lifelike though.
Both the view and food were wonderful
Fun Fact – The Braves chop is one of the first things these girls are taught to do. By now they are pros!
So grateful to get to be so close to family and get to see these sweet girls growing.
Saturday we spent doing MORE yard improvements – seems like it will never end. Things are coming together and every time we’re out there we just have to remind ourselves where we started from.
What kind of time warp exists on weekends? Good grief!
It FLEW by… but I got to spend time with my little family and we had a good time.
These little ones turned half-year old and we celebrated with a fun half-birthday (un-birthday) party!
Carter - Lily - Mailon
Friday we headed up to NGA to see Jackson perform in a play which was hysterical.
If it is ever near, go! You’ll laugh. Guaranteed. Oh, and Jax threw in a F*R*I*E*N*D*S reference in the middle which was appreciated.
Saturday we hit up Dunwoody’s annual Lemonade Days and headed to a friends BBQ. Here’s a cute shot of me and my pup on the way.
Happy Monday, friends!
Laughter. Life. Us. 